hardship
“Hardship is routinely hidden.”–Kieran Setiya
the sentence came at the
end of the second paragraph
I’m not sure he meant for
it to be as significant as it was
as I read down the page
I think about people I meet
our stories were mostly hidden
we are trained to keep them so
the answers we offer are only
as good as our questions
“how are you?” we ask
as a pleasantry more than
a question worth answering
because we have become
accustomed to saying “fine”
then what comes to mind is
the scene in Jaws where
they are comparing scars
while they waited for a giant
shark to attack their boat
their ship their hardship
a play on words that borders
on the more-than-obvious
still they came out of hiding
just as the fish hit the boat
life is more than we can
handle if we don’t ask for help
that feels even more obvious
but we can’t be found until
we come out of hiding
tell me about despair yours
and I’ll tell you mine Oliver
wrote in an honest invitation
should we choose to accept
we’ll need a bigger boat
Peace,
Milton
